The process of elimination left Waynesboro with one medal contender in the second day of the Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic wrestling tournament on Saturday.

LANCASTER — The process of elimination left Waynesboro with one medal contender in the second day of the Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic wrestling tournament on Saturday.And, when all the wrestling was complete, 126-pounder Colby Mowen stood upon the podium with a fourth-place finish.“I was very pleased to see Colby make the consolation finals,” said Waynesboro head coach Eric Mowen. “The 126-pound weight class was probably the toughest class in the tournament. It featured two-time Delaware state champion Micah Hight from Caesar Rodney, who won the weight class over Matt Grossman from Manheim Township, who was last year’s AAA PIAA state runner up at 113.”On Friday, Mowen pinned Alec Zorbaugh of Spring Grove in the second period to addvance to the quarterfinals. He lost to Marple Newtown’s Ryan Flynn 13-1 to drop down to the grueling consolation bracket, where he had to win three more matches to qualify for the consolation finals.“Colby’s only two losses came from the defending CV Holiday Classic champion and second seed Ryan Flynn from the Southeast Region, once in the quarterfinals and then in the consolation finals,” Mowen said. “Colby wrestled with urgency and took advantage of every opportunity. His attitude is what I expect from a senior who has been a four-year starter and has a chance to get 80-plus wins for his career. I hope this success carries over off the mat and in the wrestling room.”Mowen, who finished 4-2 in the tournament, pinned Donald Smith of Red Lion in 2:58 and then pinned Ryan Yorkdale of Westfield (Va.) in 44 seconds before recording his third straight fall against Noah Stewart of Mifflin County in 2:53 to reach the consolation finals.Jesse Smith was 3-2 and Stephen Egolf was 2-2 in the tournament. Ryan Neff, Aaron Layman, Kenyon Cuka and Andrew Paterno each won one match. John Atkinson, Cody Frey, Daniel Shields, Aiden Smith and Patrick Wade also competed for the Indians.“We definitely could have placed higher in the team standings and had five other wrestlers who could have placed with just one more win,” Mowen said. “Placing those wrestlers — Neff, Layman, Cuka, Jesse Smith and Paterno — would have placed Waynesboro in the top 15.“I know we are a young team but our expectations are still reasonable and realistic. These tournaments can not be taken lightly and that’s exactly what it looked like. If you expect to win, then you must do what it takes to win every day.“There will definitely be changes in how we prepare for practices, matches and how we approach the mental side of the sport for the rest of the season. We will improve and be ready for the post season.”

Junior varsity

Waynesboro’s Austin Wise captured first place in the 106-pound weight class in the junior varsity tournament. Wise went 4-0.Wise is now 8-0 with eight pins at the junior varsity level.“I look for him to crack the varsity lineup somewhere,” Mowen said of Wise.Matt Petrie (113) placed second with a 2-1 record. Jake Wertz and Wes Cline placed fifth in their respective weight classes.“I was pleased with how our JV’s wrestled in their tournament, placing four of six wrestlers and having two in the finals with one champion. Petrie, Wertz and Cline all had a good day as well. JV is a necessity and very important to our future success.”Noah Spickler and Shawn Robinson also competed for the Indians.Waynesboro hosts Gettysburg Thursday in a Mid-Penn Colonial Division meet starting at 6 p.m. with the middle school contest.

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